ABSTRACT Application of updated diatom biochronology to the Monterey Formation and related biosiliceous rocks reveals the imprint of both global paleoclimatic/paleoceanographic and regional tectonic events. A rise in global sea level combined with regional tectonic deepening associated with the development of the transform California margin resulted in the abrupt onset of deposition of fine-grained Monterey sediments that were relatively free from clastic debris between 18 and 16 Ma. The base of the Monterey Formation does not mark a silica shift in diatom deposition from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific Ocean. Rather, a North Atlantic Ocean decline of diatoms after ca. 13 Ma and increasing divergence in nutrient levels between the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans between ca. 13 and 11 Ma coincided with a major enhancement of diatom deposition in the Monterey Formation. A stratigraphically condensed interval of phosphate-rich sediments between 13 and 10 Ma in coastal southern California appears to have resulted from sediment starvation in offshore basins during a period of higher sea level, as inland sections such as those in the San Joaquin Valley commonly contain thick sequences of diatomaceous sediment. Increasing latitudinal thermal gradients in the latest Miocene, which triggered a biogenic bloom in the equatorial Pacific Ocean at 8 Ma, also led to enhanced diatom deposition in the uppermost Monterey Formation and overlying biosiliceous rocks. Uplift of the California coastal ranges after ca. 5.2 Ma resulted in an increasing detrital contribution that obscured the presence of diatoms in onshore sediments. Major reduction in coastal upwelling in the early Pliocene ca. 4.6 Ma then caused a drastic reduction of diatoms in sediments offshore southern California.

ABSTRACT The Eocene Kreyenhagen Formation is a widespread siliceous, organic-rich mudstone within the San Joaquin Basin, but it is less studied than the Monterey Formation. This study characterizes the Kreyenhagen Formation in the Kettleman area to define its vertical and lateral variability on the basis redox conditions (Mo, U, Cr), paleoproductivity (biogenic SiO 2 , P, Ba), and detrital input (Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 ) to determine the dominant environmental conditions during deposition. The Kreyenhagen Formation was correlated across 72 wells over a 4600 km 2 (1776 mi 2 ) area, which revealed an eastward thinning from 335 m (1100 ft) to less than 183 m (600 ft). We identified three informal members on the basis of log response and bulk/trace geochemistry: a lower calcareous silty mudstone, a middle organic-rich clayey mudstone, and an upper siliceous silty mudstone. Spatially, the greatest enrichment of total organic carbon, redox proxies, and biogenic silica occurs along Kettleman North Dome. These properties decrease eastward as clay volume, titanium, and aluminum increase. We interpret the Kreyenhagen Formation to record one transgressive-regressive cycle with contemporaneous climatic cooling: a transgression with initial suboxia and calcareous plankton productivity, a highstand with anoxic-euxinic benthic conditions and clastic starvation, and regression with elevated biogenic silica input. The upward transition from a calcareous to siliceous composition may reflect known cooling and upwelling intensification on the middle Eocene California margin. Mo/U and Th/U patterns suggest variable redox conditions across space and time. Lateral compositional trends indicate that eastern areas were proximal to a Sierran clastic sediment source, while western areas were distal and more anoxic.